The Last Best Hope of the Earth

I have often smiled at the popular definition of insanity, as making the same
mistake over and over again. It reminds me of Union General Ambrose Burnside
repeatedly crossing the Antietam Creek bridge or relentlessly climbing Marye’s Heights
at Fredericksburg in the face of murderous Confederate rifle and cannon fire.

Insanity indeed. A bad result will never turn good. Unwise will never become wise.
Dumb will never become smart. The converse is also true. Practices and behaviors that have repeatedly been shown to work will generally always work. Energy. Tenacity. Studiousness. Kindness. Morality. Fair Dealing. They work.

Nothing may be truly certain, but we have learned that good practice playing surfaces will permit the game to be played. It may not be scientific, but it passes the common wisdom test. We have also learned that Free Enterprise, Capitalism and Individual Liberty work.

South Korea works. North Korea doesn’t. West Germany worked. East Germany didn’t.
Why? Because, North Korea and East Germany marched up Marye’s Heights. They did
dumb.

They failed to unleash the genius of each individual. Or permit him to own the fruits of
his labor. Or to recognize the uniqueness of every human person. If each of us has an
immortal soul, each of us is obligated to lead, to make decisions for ourselves, to do right, to be right and to be solely responsible for the result.

Great and good things don’t happen by accident. The Keating Center will examine what
works and why. It will determine how best to nudge our society. To be the apex. To remain the “last best hope of earth.”

Frank Keating currently serves as president and CEO of the American Bankers Association. Keating is the former two-term Governor of Oklahoma. As the governor of Oklahoma, Keating won national acclaim in 1995 for his compassionate and professional handling of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City. He served Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush in the Treasury, Justice, and Housing departments. Keating was raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma where many of his family still reside. Frank and his wife Cathy live in McLean Virginia. They have three children and nine grandchildren.